• J.B. Rosenzweig, A.M. Cook, M.C. Thompson, R.B. Yoder
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California

Recent proposals for using plasma wakefield accelerators in the blowout regime as a component of a linear collider have included very intense driver and accelerating beams, which have densities many times in excess of the ambient plasma density. The electric fields of these beams are widely known to be large enough to completely expel plasma electrons from the beam path; the expelled electrons often attain relativistic velocities in the process. We examine here another aspect of this high-beam density scenario: the motion of ions. In the lowest order analysis, for both cylindrically symmetric and "flat" beams, it is seen that for the recently discussed "after-burner" scenario the ions completely collapse inside of the electron beam. In this case the ion density is significantly increased, with a large increase in the beam emittance expected as a result. Particle-in-cell simulations of ion-collapse in the nonlinear regime are discussed.

• J.B. Rosenzweig, A.M. Cook, M.P. Dunning, P. Frigola, G. Travish
  UCLA, Los Angeles, California
• D.T. Palmer
  SLAC, Menlo Park, California
• C. Sanelli, F. Tazzioli
  INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma)

The rf photocathode gun and the solenoid for the SPARC project at INFN-LNF (Frascati) have been fabricated and undergone initial testing at UCLA. The advanced aspects of the design of these devices are detailed. Final diagnosis of the tuning of the RF gun performance, including operating mode frequency and field balance, is described. The emittance compensating solenoid magnet, which is designed to be tuned in longitudinal position by differential excitation of the coils, has been measured using Hall probe scans for field profiling, and pulsed wire methods to determine the field center.